Every HBO Comedy Ranked From Worst To Best
52. 1st & Ten
One of HBO’s very first attempts to be taken seriously as a purveyor of comedy, the 1984-debuting 1st & Ten attempted to win laugh seeking viewers from the networks by virtue of the freedom their premium network could boast. Here you could curse, blaspheme, and indulge in all manner of naughtiness the advertiser-led mainstream TV couldn’t stomach.
Unfortunately that was about all 1st & Ten could offer. Once you got past the potty mouth, this was a down the line conventional sitcom with the same repetitive trappings of most things on TV. Set in the world of American football, the characters were a ragtag bunch of jocks and the team’s unscrupulous owners who’d time and again come close to winning the big one only to fall achingly short.
Its main point of interest to the modern audience is the presence of one Orenthal James Simpson, who joined in the second season as a player turned coach. Naturally, a certain mid-'90s murder trial saw 1st & Ten gain relevance for the first time in a long while.
Other than the curiosity factor, there’s little of interest here. HBO was still finding its feet as a content creator, and the best was of course yet to come.